It's snowing — But there won't be any snow day for John Kerry — So are we going to war? Not likely

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BUT THERE WON’T BE ANY SNOW DAY FOR JOHN KERRY: The secretary of State made the rounds on the Sunday talk shows to denounce Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. And he’s scheduled to fly to the country this evening to meet with members of the new government to reaffirm U.S. support for “Ukrainian sovereignty,” and “territorial integrity,” according to State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki. POLITICO’s Reid J. Epstein has the details: http://politi.co/1hyOCV0

SO ARE WE GOING TO WAR? NOT LIKELY, writes POLITICO’s Philip Ewing: “Kerry said Sunday that ‘all options’ were ‘on the table’ as Washington determines how to respond to the Crimea crisis, but a senior administration official later told reporters he was describing the American ‘menu’ of non-military options. … Administration officials say the U.S. can punish Russian President Vladimir Putin effectively enough without the threat of force.” http://politi.co/1cvRzjT

AND HOW WOULD THAT WORK? Administration officials “are preparing a series of possible battle plans for a potential economic assault on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine,” reports The Daily Beast. “The possible targets for these financial attacks: everyone from high-ranking Russian military officials to government leaders to top businessmen to Russian-speaking separatists in Ukraine. It’s all part of the work to prepare an executive order now under consideration at the Obama administration’s highest levels.” More here: http://thebea.st/1ddKYy4

ALSO AT THE WHITE HOUSE, President Barack Obama is set today to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office. The situation in Ukraine will almost certainly come up. But the stated purpose of the meeting is to discuss the state of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, Iran and other issues. The president previewed the meeting in an interview with Bloomberg View columnist Jeffrey Goldberg, saying that if Netanyahu “does not believe that a peace deal with the Palestinians is the right thing to do for Israel, then he needs to articulate an alternative approach.

“If Palestinians come to believe that the possibility of a contiguous sovereign Palestinian state is no longer within reach, then our ability to manage the international fallout is going to be limited,” Obama told Goldberg. The full interview is here: http://bv.ms/1gLcH8d

Netanyahu is also scheduled to meet with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon at 1 p.m.

SPEAKING OF HAGEL, the Pentagon chief did an interview that aired yesterday with CBS’s “Face the Nation.” He said the Russian incursion into in Ukraine “could be a very dangerous situation if this continues in a very provocative way.” He also defended his proposed defense budget, including cuts to military compensation. “We have to reset, reposition,” he said. “I’ve got to be able to keep a modern military.” The transcript is here: http://cbsn.ws/1kKuYp4

HAPPY MONDAY AND WELCOME TO MORNING DEFENSE, where your old correspondent is still subbing for Kate Brannen. Send us tips and pitches at awright@politico.com, and follow us on Twitter @abwrig

TOMORROW, THE PRESIDENT IS SCHEDULED TO ROLL OUT HIS FY15 SPENDING REQUEST. The formal budget briefing, though, is likely to be overshadowed by the crisis in Ukraine, with journalists already declaring it the biggest test yet for Obama. But the White House’s annual budget plan will set the stage for a showdown with Congress over Pentagon spending that could drive the news for the rest of the year.

The president is expected to push a $26 budget boost for the Defense Department, paired with a plus-up for other federal agencies. The gambit, though, has little chance of making it through the Republican-controlled House, where defense hawks and tea partiers are fighting a much different battle: whether to negotiate with Democrats for some additional sequester reprieve in fiscal 2016 — or allow another round of automatic spending cuts that could force the Pentagon to retire an aircraft carrier and further reduce Army end strength, among other measures.

ON THAT NOTE … A FEW BUDGET HEADLINES

— NAVY TO CUT LCS ORDER NEXT YEAR, via Bloomberg’s Tony Capaccio: “The U.S. Navy will request $2.1 billion to continue developing the Littoral Combat Ship and buy three of the vessels in fiscal 2015, one fewer than previously planned, according to defense officials. No decision has been made on which of the two companies building different versions — Lockheed Martin Corp. and Austal Ltd. — will see one of its ships delayed by a year, according to one of the officials, who asked not to be identified before the Pentagon budget for the year beginning Oct. 1 is sent to Congress on March 4.” http://buswk.co/1hVoSjG

— ARMY, GUARD PREPARE TO DO BATTLE, via Paul McLeary of Defense News: “Gen. Ray Odierno spent the last week of February working on his service’s own ‘rebalance’ to Asia, paying visits to his peers in Beijing and Tokyo and visiting soldiers in South Korea. It was far away from the growing discontent surrounding the Army’s plans to cut the National Guard and Reserve by tens of thousands of part-time soldiers while taking away the eight Guard AH-64 Apache attack helicopter battalions and using them for ‘Big Army’s’ scout mission.” http://bit.ly/1dRwXTE

— DoD LOOKS FOR OPEN-SOURCE TECH SAVINGS, via POLITICO’s Leigh Munsil: “The Defense Department’s foray into using more open-source software may help save money heading into the forecast ‘era of austerity.’ Through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon funds research in areas like data science, cyber and anomaly detection. And in early February, DARPA published a list of open-source projects online with the hope that the research and development community would show interest in helping ‘build communities around government-funded software and research.’” http://politico.pro/1pREBpH

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— House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) doesn’t believe sending Navy ships to the Black Sea is a “very good idea” and says the president is being outmaneuvered by Russian President Vladimir Putin. http://politi.co/1fzW9Ub and http://politi.co/1fzX4UL

— Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) urges Congress to quickly pass a resolution condemning the actions of Putin, whom he says is using “the tactics of a bully.” http://politi.co/1fA26R1

— SASC member Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says Obama is a “weak an indecisive president that invited aggression” from Russia against Ukraine. http://politi.co/1fA1cEk

— Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) says House Republicans will be “very cooperative” with the Obama administration on the issue of Ukraine. http://politi.co/1fA3nb0

— Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) says NATO needs to assure member states near Ukraine about the strength of the alliance. http://politi.co/1fA84Bx

— The Ukranian ambassador to the U.N. says the country will seek military support from other countries if necessary. http://politi.co/1fzZH8W

SPEED READ

— Afghan President Hamid Karzai tells The Washington Post “he feels betrayed by what he calls an insufficient U.S. focus on targeting Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan.” Kevin Sieff: http://wapo.st/ORl4YI

— NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen warns that “Russia must stop its military activity and its threats.” Defense News: http://goo.gl/FFuiGR

— Former CIA and NSA Director Michael Hayden says the State Department refuses to acknowledge that Putin does, in fact, view foreign policy through a zero-sum, Cold War lens. The Daily Beast: http://goo.gl/PLXuN8

— Ukranian activists take to social media to try to counter Russian state media reports that say opposition protesters are committing widespread violence. The New York Times: http://goo.gl/cPAvaG

— As the defense industry continues to adjust to budget cuts, firms like Lockheed Martin and Leidos are increasingly turning to energy contracts. The Washington Post: http://goo.gl/4xpnSJ

— A look at how Los Angeles, with a large number of homeless veterans, is attempting to comply with the Obama administration’s goal of eliminating veteran homelessness by next year. Al Jazeera: http://goo.gl/9bgr04